When Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win an election to the US Senate, she actually was elected to a seat she already held. Just a few months before, her husband, Senator Thaddeus Caraway, had passed away, and the Governor of Arkansas appointed her to the seat. Then when a special election was called for just a short time later, most politicians in Arkansas let Hattie Caraway finish the rest of the term that would expire in less than a year. Hattie Caraway ran again, though, and would win reelection in 1932 and 1938. Hattie Caraway was not a legendary Senator, based on her floor speeches, committee assignments, or legislation sponsored, and she was a fairly representative and capable Southern Democrat at the time. Still, she did it, and used her specific politics to build her own career.